Just A Dream
by Shasta627
Summary: It was two weeks before the wedding when it happened. It was supposed to be nothing serious—it was just a few angry people, upset about issues beyond Avalor's control—yet the outcome couldn't have been more grave... [Character Death. One-shot. Older Isabel x Gabe.]


It was two weeks before the wedding when it happened.

It was supposed to be nothing serious—it was just a few angry people, upset about issues beyond Avalor's control—yet the outcome couldn't have been more grave.

* * *

"_Be careful," Isabel said, her voice anxious. She wished he didn't have to leave. _

"_I will," Gabe promised, kissing her lips lightly. "I'll see you in a bit." He then disappeared into the night with the rest of his troops, hardly sparing a backward glance._

_Isabel waited until almost midnight until she decided to retire to her bedchamber. She knew Gabe would come up to see her once he came back, but she wished it would be soon. The rioters had grown more and more violent as the days went on, and she couldn't help but worry for her fiance's safety, even if he was the Captain of the Guard..._

* * *

The sun was shining down on everyone as they stood silently in the cemetery, huddled together with their eyes transfixed on the earth as it was loaded up shovel after shovel. The evening was too bright, too beautiful to be holding such a mournful occasion, but it had to be done.

Dead silence settled over the small crowd as the workers finally set aside their shovels, wiping their brows as they gazed at the mound of dirt they'd just finished packing down. After smoothing out the top of the dirt again they finally stepped away, allowing everyone to properly mourn without two grave-diggers obscuring their vision.

* * *

_Isabel tucked herself into bed, trying to imagine the blankets as Gabe's arms instead, wrapped securely around her and protecting her, but not even her imagination could conjure such a conception. _

_She had almost dozed off when she heard a soft knock on her door. _

_Immediately awake again, a smile crossed Isabel's lips as she tiptoed across the floor to answer it, relief settling over her petite frame._

_Yet her smile faded as soon as she opened the door and found Elena instead._

"_Hey," she greeted her sister, and then noticed Elena's unusually ashen skin and bloodshot eyes. "What's wrong?" she immediately asked, her heart beginning to beat furiously against her ribcage. "Is it abuelo? Your kids?"_

"_No, Isa, it's…" Elena gulped, and Isabel suddenly couldn't remember how to breathe. "It's Gabe..."_

* * *

People began to slowly approach the grave, one at a time, as though caught in a trance.

Isabel felt as though she were watching it all from a distance, just standing in the background. But she was reminded all too well of the reality of her situation as she watched people place flowers wreaths on his tombstone while giving her looks of pity, their whispers floating through the air to meet her ears.

"Poor man, so young, with such a bright future ahead…"

"He's never coming home now…"

"Just before their wedding, too…"

Isabel stood rigid to the spot, her head bowed as she stared at her engagement ring glistening in the evening sun, almost as though mocking her and what could've been.

* * *

_Isabel didn't wait for any more explanation. She raced outside the room and ran back to the entrance, running faster than she'd ever run before. Her heart was in her throat as she tried not to assume the worse. Was he missing? Was he hurt? She didn't even know where she was running, she knew she just had to find Gabe. If she could just see him, everything would be alright... _

_But as she skidded into the main entrance hall, she saw a group of guards carrying a comatose body into the palace and set it on ground, their expressions identical masks of horror and disbelief. Mateo was with them too, his face in his hands as his composure began to crumble before her eyes. _

_No, no, _no! _was all Isabel could think as she raced over to the body, her feet practically giving out beneath her on the last step. _

_Mateo noticed her immediately. "Isa," he said, his voice thick with emotion as he rushed over to her. "I tried all I could do, but I was just too late…" She could clearly note the guilt heavily lacing his words as he gripped her shoulder helplessly. _

_But nothing could console her now._

_For lying before her on the cold, palace stone, was none other than Gabe Nuñez, her fiance, the love of her life, with a large spear shaped hole just above his heart..._

* * *

It had taken one hour before everyone finally left. So many people had tried to approach her and offer comfort, her family especially, but Isabel preferred space, and was grateful that she was finally alone.

She stood on top of the freshly dug dirt, shivering despite the warm air, and stared at the the words carved into his headstone. It said he was a good captain, a loving son, and a hero to Avalor, but he wasn't a husband or father. He'd never gotten the chance.

_Why'd you leave me? Why'd you have to go? _Isabel silently thought in desperation, squeezing her eyes shut and wrapping her arms tightly around herself. She fell to her knees as Gabe's lifeless face kept flashing through her mind. _I was counting on forever...now I'll never know. _The tears slid from her cheeks onto the soft ground, her vision so blurred she could no longer make out Gabe's name engraved into the dark stone before her.

How was she supposed to move on, knowing she would never see his endearing smile again, or hear his cheerful laughter ringing through the palace halls, or feel his soft, gentle lips gently caress her own…? They had their whole future ahead of them, and in the blink of an eye suddenly her whole world had shattered.

A deep pain began blossoming inside Isabel's chest and she dug her hands into the ground, trying to anchor herself to the earth and keep from collapsing entirely.

"Please," Isabel gasped aloud, her body convulsing with tormented sobs. She could hardly breathe anymore. "Please, this can't be happening to me, it's just a dream...oh Gabe, please let this be just a dream..."

Her anguished pleas echoed throughout the large graveyard, and were met with a cold, lonely silence.

* * *

_**A/N: Anyway, sorry (not sorry) for writing this, but this fic is based off of the song "Just A Dream" by Carrie Underwood - go listen to it if you want to cry :'(**_


End file.
